Using a midwife?

[birkmmm]

how many of you use a midwife ?
I am considering going this way but I'm not sure yet

[jags8]

I would if I had the option, but my hospital only has OBs

[creepyeyeball]

What type pf midwife are you considering? I have used them all (cnm, cpm, and lay) and could give you the pros and cons of each. Are you planning a hospital, birth center or home birth?

[birkmmm]

I would like to do it at a hospital still ... I don't really know the difference between midwives

[Deleted]

The practice I go to has one midwife, well I won't be delivering with them this time but I did with DD. I didn't really care who was there when I pushed so I just ended up with the OB who was on call and she was great. I mean, I guess I didn't see her a lot (we weren't at the hospital in labor all that long and it was a crazy weekend for deliveries) but she was helpful and encouraged me that I could do it.

I won't be meeting anyone at the practice where we'll move at 34 weeks until then (maybe 1 chance to meet them in December) but especially since I did it before... I'm not worried about who delivers this LO. I've heard great things about the hospital I'll be using this time.

[creepyeyeball]

I delivered twice in the hospital with a cnm. In my state only cnms can deliver in the hospital. I received wonderful care with her and overall the experience was good. my cnm was the only midwife in a practice with five other (male) obs. She was very medically-minded, so she wasn't as "hands-off" as I would have liked. She was pushing me to induce when I went past my due date with #2. She encouraged me to use pitocin and break my water early with #1, and was very vocal about me getting an epidural. Bur on the flip-side, she allowed me to push in different positions and was patient with a posterior labor and I'm not sure many OBs would have done that.

Prenatal appointments with my cnm were no different than an OB. Long waits, short visits, same testing.

I guess I share this to let you know that not all midwives are going to be the same. If you're looking for a cnm in the hospital and want a natural birth without medication, I would look for one that works in a practice with other back-up cnms so you have choices. I also think that the OBs they work with will give you a good indication of what to expect.

Overall, I love working with midwives. I have a personal preference where I don't want to deliver with a male. Midwives provide that motherly comfort I need during labor.

Now CPMs and lay midwives are entirelt different. Prenatals with my cpms last over an hour and they prefer to have husbands and other children there to include them in the process. Less testing and more nutritional counseling. Completely hands-off during labor. They work for me and I tell them how U want to push and what I want to do - unless of course there is an emergency or something that they need to address. I feel like my Cpms treat me like a person and not just a patient. They pray for me and call to check up on me between appointments. It's a very special relationship and I feel like they are almost part of the family following births.

Midwives are just awesome and I really encourage low risk moms to check them out.

[creepyeyeball]

I should add that even my cnm in the hospital was with me throughout the entire labor. Most OBs just come and go as needed, bur my midwife was there for support the whole time. That's another thing to consider if that is important to you.

Also, with my cnm in the hospital, I was guaranteed to have her for delivery. With the obs in the practice you just got whoever was on call, but with the midwife you knew you would always have her. That was important to me because I wanted the person I saw for prenatals to be the one delivering my baby.

[PiradicalMaid]

I saw a CNM and had a hospital birth last time. The CNM was great, the hospital part was only ok. But I loved having a MW- I've seen OBs at this same practice, and I definitely felt like MWs give you more time, listen more, and are more hands off.

This time, we'll be using a birth center. They have CNMs and CPMs and you meet with all the providers. Like creepyeyeball said, you get longer visit times (they schedule them for 1-1.5 hours) and they talk to you about health from a broader perspective than just medicine- like the birth center has yoga classes and they give you nutritional information and have advice on herbs/supplements, if that's relevant to your care.

I MWs! My mom saw MWs with both of her pregnancies. I think they are a great option- what I especially like is that they provide screenings, so if something comes up where you need a higher level of care, they will refer you out. Even the birth center has an OB on staff who they work with, if someone doesn't qualify for a MW/OOH birth.

[mnswimmer]

I went to a practice that has CNM. They suggest seeing all of them because you don't know who you'll get come delivery time.

I picked them because I wanted a water birth. I liked that they were open to that, they were also open to delivering on birthing chairs, and other places/positions then on your back.

I really liked my care with them. They also listened to all of my concerns, and were more on the less intervention side of things.

I ended up having a C-section. The midwife on call stayed with me in the OR until partially through the C-section. It was nice to have her there when my DH couldn't be in the room as I didn't know anyone else in the room. She kinda took the role of a dula. She comforted me while they got everything situated. It was nice to have her there until DH could come in the OR.

The midwifes on call also followed up after the c-section for the entirety of my hospital stay.

This time I'm seeing the midwifes again. I just need to have some of my appointments with their OB partners. And they OB partner has to be at the delivery.

[wilburbud]

My office is 25 midwives and 10 MD's, and I deliver at a hospital. The doctor doesn't come near me unless something goes downhill. I totally recommend it. But in a hospital. Because bad things happen

[wittyandwaiting]

Me! Me! Me!

I had an OB last time and felt like birth was treated like a medical problem that needed to be treated.

I'm pretty excited about having a midwife this time around, it was one of the things I said was absolute must for me. We are going to be delivering in hospital but a doctor only gets involved if we need some sort of medical intervention.

There are 14 big waves at our practice but we assigned a team of two, and they work 10 days on 10 days off.

Edited because I'm too lazy to type so I'm dictating to Siri and she screwed up.